Friday, September 4, 2009Agenda for the 5thsee property in Ivy, hear about the Quality Community Council from Todd, chat with Brian about possible goings on on neighboring plot, farm school, etc. Exchange, share. 10:30 head to Nelson County and meet with realator, check out farms Jeff mentioned 1:30/2 pm head to Shannon Farm (Lunch?) · Intros · Background on Ivy Project - VA, Amanda, B · People United - What is it, who is it - Jeff/Patrick/Aaron/Rachel · SONG update · · Hopes and challenges, Vision, how this relates to our work · Informational updates and logistics (Zoning/Division rights in Ivy/Nelson VOP, land sale, money, timeline, bottom line, etc) (VA + Jeff) · What can we bring to this project? · Roles/Defining core group · Next steps Friday, August 14, 2009Cville meeting Sept. 5th
Check back here for meeting agenda details- We'll check out how Ivy is doing, visit some farms in Nelson County, and chat in the afternoon. Rough agenda goes:
Morning- visit sites Afternoon: Make lunch Share background, recent history of Ivy Project (VA, Amanda, B) Hear from Todd about QCC's work and plans for future Updates on information gathering and potential steps foward (VA and Jeff) What can individuals bring to project? What roles would people like to play? Next steps, future plans
Thursday, June 25, 2009Friday, June 19, 2009Sunday, May 3, 2009Thursday, April 2, 2009Directions to the Ivy Project
From Charlottesville
(take 29 south to 64 West) take exit 114 (IVY) off 64 West, turn left after exit down Dry Bridge Road. After 1.8 miles turn left on Taylors Gap Road and after 2.6 miles turn right on Pagebrook Road and go 700 yards past the red barn and white house on right (stay to left) we're down the driveway in the back field. From East of Cville Take 64 east to exit 114 (IVY) and take a right after the exit and follow directions above. google map of farm is here: http://maps.google.com/maps?f= Tuesday, January 6, 2009Corner Cover Crop Expands Todd and the QCC have expanded the QCC garden! Cover crops are in, and spring isn't too far away..! Monday, August 18, 2008Build Build Build! Nearly 15 of us descended onto Charlottesville for the first big Ivy Project building weekend! Most of us had close to zero experience in construction work, but we were artfully guided by our designer and neighbors, Eric and Brian. Half of our beautiful shade structure (room without walls, pavilion, sala) is up! Keep in touch for the next building weekend in the next month or so.  After the structure is up, comes the green roof, the floor, and eventually solar panels, lights, and maybe even walls! Imagine the wonderful ideas a group could have and work through in such a beautiful space. Fundraising events coming up, and promise to be a blast. Thank you Eric, Liz, Josh, Amanda, Allyn, Stephanie, Mariela, Todd, Elliott, Shintaro, Jimmy, Andrew, Brian, and Mihr!!!       Wednesday, July 30, 2008Pavilion Building
Eric's plans look great, and we're making real progress getting ready for the weekend of the 16th! Be in touch to organize a ride down or offer fundraising help--!
 
Monday, July 21, 2008One sister, many weeds Alas! Our seeds weren't good enough quality to germinate! Little of the corn came up, and Todd's great effort to germinate the rest of the seed in boxes off site met little success. With its being so late in the season and all, we'll be looking for a new seed supplier and planting cover crops instead. Better luck next year! But, keep your schedule open for Ivy Project building days on August 9th and 16th! We'll be doing an Ivy-style barn raising of an open-air, green roof structure! See my attempt to render what it'll look like below. Eric and Liz are doing great things with designs Get in touch with me if you want to come down! (202) 674-0900 Also get in touch if you want to give us money.. 
Monday, June 2, 2008Corn Planting! A Charlottesville, Fairfax, and DC crew descended on the farm this Saturday. We made hundreds of mounds of dirt and compost and sowed the corn! We picnicked, sweat, and watered the entire garden with buckets from the creek! We also took it as a sign that the project was destined for luck when it rained good and hard for 20 minutes immediately after we finished planting. Todd will give a shout out when the corn is 4 inches, and then we'll put in the beans, followed by squash! Keep in touch for those dates if you want to come along! 
Wednesday, May 28, 2008Fence building  Todd, Andrew, Jimmy, Liz, and I put up our first electric fence! Planting party this coming saturday 11 am! Friday, May 9, 2008May update  Before and After!Ground is broken! Arnoldo, from the Virginia Justice Center and Mexicans without Borders, Todd from Quality Community Council, Brian, our neighbor, Megan, my housemate, and I spent the day on the 7th plowing up two plots of dirt in the back of the farm. We've got a 100 ft by 40 ft and 40 by 40 ft plot nearly ready to go for planting-! We'll put up a fence over memorial day weekend to keep out cows and deer, and then have a planting party at the end of the month with cville folks from QCC and hopefully some folks from the organized day laborer network up here (TUAVA). We'll be planting corn, beans, and squash. This is often called the three sisters- the three work together to keep away pests and balance soil nutrients. The corn is a natural pole for beans to climb up.  Todd, Arnoldo, and our trusty plow. Brian plowed and tilled the larger plot with his tractor and potato plow.Upcoming dates:
Monday, February 18, 2008February update
The Quality Community Council is taking on Companion Farm in Ivy as their next project. http://cvilleqcc.com/default.aspx
Todd, urban farm manager and I have staked out a beautiful little 1/2 acre plot for the pilot season of melons and pumpkins. We should sign a lease on the property by the end of the month. I'll be moving to DC for a little while, but will be back and forth and keeping in the loop. Amanda Altman may be down here for a month--! Anyone else would be very welcome, as her lack of a car is a small problem in a town like cville. -VA Wednesday, December 12, 2007Sunday, November 18, 2007Sunday, November 4, 2007february meeting and other updates Hey y'all. It's probably a good idea to go ahead and pick a weekend for another gathering to talk about the farm. Eric suggested the weekend of Feb. 26th. On the other hand, Feb 19th is a 3-day weekend, which might work better for folks coming from farther away? Send the list or me your thoughts and I can try to synthesize them. You can always call me, too- 202 674 0900 Some ideas I and others have had for early action items for the farm that we could talk about in February (or leading up to february): Spring garden planting? Spring or summer natural building workshop on farm? Local groups' projects on farm Synthesis of regional/national networking since Oct. '07 thoughts on project and a 501 (c) - non-profit status. UPDATES: 1. I've been talking with a bunch of y'all about starting early on with planting as early as spring, and getting other groups involved. Arnoldo (community organizer with the virginia justice center) and I visited an organic herb farm in Harrisonburg, VA to check out their greenhouses to get ideas for winter crops. 2. A few of us have talked about going ahead and putting up a structure next year, too- either a shed to keep building materials, or hosting a natural building workshop that would leave us a structure after the workshop. 3. Diane and I are working with Francisco to organize a long distance trip for January to a center we're really interested in. So far, we're talking about Texas, and visiting Colectivo Flatlander (colectivoflatlander.org) and a farm run by indigenous women out there, too. Other ideas for a long distance trips? We're also planing another regional trip for this month. Not sure where yet- ideas? 4. I'm keeping an excel spreadsheet of any organizations/centers/farms we have visited or want to. you can send me any information of places you visit or want to, and i'll keep it organized. 5. Charlottesville-based outreach is going well. Folks around here are interested already in the Feb. meeting. Catholic workers, community orgs, local churchfolk, etc. 6. I need to figure out with my dad which 50 acres of the farm is the best for this project's purposes. if anyone has ideas of how to determine that, land-wise, please let me know. Right now I'm going by the access road, the pond, seemingly good farming land? Thursday, November 1, 2007[The Ivy Project] It's a go on the farm!
Hey everyone.
Quick note before I get to bed- I met with my dad today to talk about the proposal I'd sent out to the group. Unnecessary details aside, here's the deal with the land: It's technically under three owners- dad, my brother, and myself. There's nothing in the way of our doing whatever I want with my 3rd (50 acres). Free and clear. So, we can unofficially, for now, divide off 50 acres and proceed. He suggested using the back 50 acres by the creek and woods, because of access to it by the side road. The road we used to park the cars isn't technically our entrance to the farm. We could think about buying up a teeny bit of land around that access road in back to ensure it's always open to us, or looking into the neighbor's road we used to drive into the farm last month. Anyway. Details. night night va Monday, October 29, 2007Zoning Issues and Tax Status
The biggest hurdle we face in developing the Ivy land is the zoning restrictions in Albemarle County Rural Areas:
Albemarle County Code Ch18 Zoning10 Rural Areas.pdf Section 10.2.1 details the uses that we're allowed by right, such as: one and two family dwellings, farm stands, agriculture, temporary construction, tourist lodging, farmworker housing (up to ten occupants), etc. Section 10.2.2 details the uses for which we would need a special use permit, among them: community center, civic clubs, private schools, farm sales, etc. See the definitions in section five at: Albemarle County Zoning Regs. At issue here is that 'community organizing and popular education retreat center' is, of course, not on either of these lists. So where do we fit in? Or, more helpfully, how do we avoid the need to get a special use permit, which would be a time-consuming, energy-draining and arduous public ordeal? One possible loophole is that a project which receives public funding is exempt from special permit. So, for example, if we got a grant from the USDA, or made some sort of agreement with UVA, then we would be exempt. Another would be to define our project within the criteria for use by right: say a "tourist and farmworker solidarity farm," or something. Secondary in importance to the zoning issue is the land's tax status: Right now all 158 acres are under "land use" tax status, which means that it is taxed only $190/year based on the fact that it is used for agriculture. Were some portion of the land to be built about, that portion would fall out of land use status and be taxed at the market rate for developable land. Furthermore, back taxes for the past five years would have to be paid on that portion of the land. This isn't too big a deal, because if we put a building on say 1 acre (that's a pretty big building, even with some non-agricultural landscaping), then only 1 acre falls out of land use. We're talking (I don't have the numbers in front of me), probably something like $5,000 in taxes. However, the property taxes on the building likely will be more than that each year... Unless, of course, it's owned by a non-profit, it which case the taxes are like zero. Otherwise, it's something like 0.74%, which isn't bad, but we would simply need to have a revenue stream dedicated to pay those taxes every year. And the more structures we build, the more we'll have to pay. Just to clarify again: the zoning and tax status are two completely separate issues. We cannot change the zoning—that is set by the county. We can change our tax status, based on what we do with the land, and we can decide how much we pay, based on our ownership structure. Eric
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